And albert e



`May 26, 1931. Q w, sMlTH ET AL 1,807,016

-Rocx DRILL Filed Deo. 5l, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l @WMM/d ATTORNEY m@ NY W\\ G. w. SMITH ET Al. 1,897,016

ROCK DRILL Filed Deo. 1929 2 SheetS-Shee 2 May 26, 1931.

Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED] STABS PATENT oFF-ICE GEORGE w. SMITH, or OTTUMWA, IOWA., AND ALBERT* E. nrnrumerr, or wAsHINGToN,

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS TO OTTUMWA, IOWA, A CORPORATION HARDSOCG WONDER DIIEHLLV CO., OF

ROCK DRILL Application filed December 31, 1929. Serial No. 417,770.

Our invention ,relates to certain new and useful improvements in roel; drilling engines and it particularly has vfor its object to provide va drilling engine withmeans whereby the motive liuid maybe utilized under-full pressure to' blow out the drill hole. Various means have heretofore been devised for this purpose but all that have come to our lmowledge have certain drawbacks which we haveV sought to overcome.

In rock drilling engines of the type to which `our invention relates there is usually provided a cylinderin which a hammer piston is reciprocatcd by compressed air or steam and operates on a drill steel'which has a bore or passageway through the same from end to end;y .an automatic'reciprocating valve controls the delivery of-motive fluid to the cylinder and its exhaust therefrom.

haust liuid through the passage inV the drill steel; in yet other apparatus provision-1s made to cut off the action of the liviefluid 3d on the hammer piston and divert it to the passage inthe drill steel; in still others provision is made to hold the automatic valve mechanically .at one eXtrem-e position whereby live fluid will be constantly passed to the fore u end of the cylinder to pass out through the drill bore or passage.

In drilling engines embodying our invention the alternate supplying-and exhausting ofE the working fluid to the opposite ends of the hammer piston is'automatically effectedl by what is commonly kno-wn as a reciprocating distributing valve. Our invention provides means in association with thedistributing valve for stopping its reciprocations and diverting the live fluid linto the cylinder at the fore end ofthe hammer piston whereby the live fluid will efectually hold the hammer piston in av retracted position and at the same time cause it to open up a passage from the T fore end of the cylinderr to the inlet end of In some apparatus provision 1s made for exhaustingA same and blow outfdbris located at the drill-'V the drill steels passage `or bore, thereby'giving full fluid pressure to blow out theholze.

Further, it is an object to provide a simple and inexpensive mechanism tofelifect the results desired, which mechanism can be added as a unit to the standard type of drilling engines without materially changing the design 1 and construction ther'eo Further, the invention has for anobj ect to provide a manually actuatable vcontrol valve that is located functionally between the live-` fluid intake of the engine and the automatic distributing valve thereof and cooperates f with the inlet and exhaust ports and bleeding ports of the automatic valve chamber in such a manner that when the drillis functioning at work the automatic valve and the hammer piston operate in the usual manner, butv when the manual valve is given a quarter turn the inlet uidwill be cut oyfrom the automatic valve and pass into the fore-part of the cylinder from whence it will be conducted to one end of the automatic valve housing for holding the Aautomatic valve at one extreme of its stroke and will also serve to hold the hammer piston'back so as to compel the'live lluid toV escape through the' flutes of thehammer piston and cylinder tothe inner end of the drill steel to pass through'the passageway of the ing end of the steel.

Other objects will in part be obvious landin part be pointed out hereinafter.

y To the attainment 'of' the aforesaid objects' and ends, the invention still further resi-des in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which f will be iirst fully 'd'escribedin the following detailed description, then be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure lis a side elevation of a drillingV engine embodying our invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section onthe line 2-25 of Figure 1. l Figure 3 isa diagrammatic vertical longitudinal section of the invention, the manual valve being inthe 4drill running position.

VFigure 4 is a view' similar to Figure 3 with the manual valve turned one quarter to render the hammer piston and automatic valve inoperative and to permit live steam to blow out the drill hole via the drill passage.

In the drawings in which like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all-of the ligures, 1 is the cylinder having a bore 2 for the luted hammer 12 and having a piston chamber 3 for the hammer piston 11.

4 is a coupling member which connects the cylinder 1 with the handle member 5. The handle member is chambered to receive the pawl carrier 6 in which is located the check pawl 7 and the ratchet 8 that is carried on the riie bar 9, the latter operating in the rifle nut 10 carried by the piston 11.

The cylinder is formed with the usual iiuid distributing and exhausting passages 13 and 14, one of which 13 communicates with the front end of the cylinder chamber 3 and the other 14 communicates with the rear end of the cylinder chamber 3. Both passages 13 and 14 respectively communicate with ports 34 and 35 that are controlled by the automatic valve 25. The passages 13 and 14 do not, however, communicate with each other. 15 is a lateral duct from the passage 13 that communicates with a duct 42 in the valve box or casing 22 of the automatic valve unit.

The cylinder 1 is also provided with kicker passages 16 and 19 respectively, the passage 16 communicating at 17 with the piston chamber 3 to the rear of its center, while the passage 19 communicates at 2O with the piston 'chamber 3 forward of its center, the ports 17 and 20 being controlled by the piston 11.

The passage 16 also has a port 18 that registers with a port 33 in the automatic valve box 22 while the passage 19 has a port 2.1 that kregisters with the port 36 in the automatic distributer valve box 22.

23 is the distributer valve chamber in the box 22 and it is provided at its ends with removable stop plugs 24. At the ends the chamber 23 is provided with annular grooves 28 and 29 which register respectively with the ports 33 and 36. At the center there is provided an annular groove 32 which registers with the live fluid inlet port 40.

Intermediate of the grooves 28-32 and 32-29 are other grooves 3() and 31 which register with the exhaust ports 39 and 41, there being bleeding ports 37 and 38 provided from the grooves 28 and 29 respectively.

Within the valve chamber 23 is located the automatic distributing valve which consists of end pistons 26 and a central piston 27 united by reduced portions 25.

All of the foregoing parts, with the exception of the lateral duct 15 and duct 42, are of a well-known construction common to many rock drills.

Our invention resides in providing a manual valve unit consisting of a box 43 having the power iuid inlet 44 and a duct 4 5 which registers with the inlet port 40 of the automatic valve box 22. The manual valve box 43 is also provided with a pair of exhaust ducts 46 and 47 which register respectively with the ports 39 and 41 of the automatic valve box 22. Bleeding ducts 48 and 49 which register with the bleeding ducts 37 and 38 of the valve box 22 are provided in the valve box 43.

rlhe valve box 43 is also provided with a duct 50 which registers with the duct 42 and has a port 51 controlled by the manual valve 53 which is mounted in a bore 52 (preferably tapered) that intersects all of the ducts 48, 46, 45, 47 and 49.

The manual valve 53 is provided with a stem 54 on which is secured a wheel 55 by a nut 56 through which the valve may be turned. It is only necessary to turn the valve through a quarter revolution. The valve 53 may be provided with a lug 57 that cooperates with a valve seating pressure spring 69 and a removable plug 58 as best shown in Figure 3 of the drawings.

The valve 53 is provided with an annular groove 59 so as to maintain the bleeding port 48 always open. It is also provided with a cross port 60 which, when the valve is in one position, maintains the passage or duct 46 open, and when in the other position closes that duct. The valve 53 has a T or three-way port 61-62 which is so arranged that when the valve is in one position the passage 45 will be maintained open to the port 40 and closed to the port 51 but when in another position the port 51 will be brought into direct communication with the inlet 44 through the upper portion of the passage 45 and the lower portion of the passage 45 will be closed oif to the port 40.

A second annular groove 63 is provided in the valve 53 for the purpose of keeping the exhaust port 57 always open. A cross port 64 is provided which, when the valve is in one position, maintains the bleeding port 49 open but when in another position closes the same.

The cylinder 1 is connected to the drill steel chuck housing 64 in which the chuck 66 is located in any usual way and the chuck 66 carries the drill steel 67, the latter having the longitudinal bore or passage 68 through which the fluid passes to the drill hole. It will be noted that the flutes 12 of the hammer piston do not extend the full length thereof so that when the hammer piston is advancing communication is closed oif between the fore part of the chamber 3 and the drill steel passage but when the hammer piston 11 as nearing the withdrawal portion of the stroke such communication will be open.

So far as described the manner in which our invention operates is as follows:

Assume the parts'to be positioned as indicated in Figure 3 ot the drawings at which time the manual valve is set to effect a normal CTI remore"- operation of the drill for drilling purposes. At this time live fluid will pass through the passage 45 to the port 40 and into the annular groove 32 from whence it passes through the port 35 and duct 14 to the rear end of the cylinder to impel the piston 11 forwardly. Now, as soon as the piston 11 has uncovered the port 17 the fiuid under pressure will pass through the passage 16 into the left hand end of the chamber 23 and impel the piston 25-26-27 from left to right in Figure 3. Vhile the piston 11 is moving forwardly and before the piston 25426-27 is shifted, the fluid from the chamber 3 in advance of the piston 11 which has not escaped through the flutes 12 will be exhausted through the passage 13, port 34, port 37 and passage 46 to atmosphere. As soon, however, as the automatic valve has been shifted over from left to rivht in; Figure 8, it will close the port 35 and open communication between vthat port and the groove 31, thereby connecting the right hand end of the chamber 3 with the atmosphere through ports 41 and 47, and at the same time the live fluid from groove 32 will be diverted to the port 34 where it will flow through duct 13 into the left hand end of the chamber 3 to return the piston 11 and coinplete the cycle of operations. As soon as the piston 11 has uncovered the port 20 the automatic valve will again be shifted and this action continues indefinitely.

Now, should it be desired to stop, Ithe operation of the drill and blow out the hole with full fluid pressure the attendant simply turns the wheel a quarter turn in a clockwise direction in Figure 2 which closes fthe duct 46 and the bleeding duct 49 and closes the passage of live fluid through the duct 45 to the port 40, while at the same time opening the passage of live fluid via port 51, ducts 50, 42 and 15, into the duct 18 from whence it passes into the fore end of the chamber 3 and forces the piston 11 backwardly. At the same time live fluid from the chamber 3 passes through the passage 19 into the right hand end ofthe chamber 23 and holds the piston 25--26-27 over in the left hand end of the chamber. Thus the movements of the hammer piston and the automatic valve are arrested so long as the manual valve remains in the possition shown in Figure 4 and live fluid is passed tthrough the drill steel to blow out the dbris.

'1 From the foregoing description, taken in in said cylinder, an automatic distributing valve unit associated with saidcylinder and having inlet and exhaust ducts in communication with said cylinder and having kicker passages between said cylinder and said distributing valveunit, said distributing valve unit including a live fluid inlet passage,`ex-

haust outlet passages and bleeding ports,

controlled valve is in one position said dis-l tributing valvewill be caused to function normally, and when the sameis in another positionthefsaid distributingfvalve will beheld inactive, said manually controlled valve serving to. ley-pass live fluid aro-und said autovmatic valve from a live fluid source into the fore end ofthe cylinder while said piston is heldj` inactive for the purposes described.

` 2'. In drilling engines of `the character described, the combination with a cylinder, a

hammer piston therein, and a chuck for holding a drill steel, having a passagelthrough' the same, iin possition to be operated on by the hammer pieten and toreceive hole-cleaning fluid'fro-m the cylinder, means for vdistributing,` motive fluidv to, and exhausting same from said cylinder to operate said'hammer piston, said means: including an automatie; distributing' valve, means for supplying liuid tov said distributing valve for shiftingthe same and causing operation of said hammer piston, and a manually actuatable valve device for controlling the admission of fluid to and the exhaust of fluid from said automatic valve and having provisions when in one position to cause normal operation of said automatic valve and when in another position to cause said automatic valve to be held against movement while holding said hammer piston retracted and by-passing motive fluid around said automatic valve under full pressure to the cylinder and drill steel.

3. In drill engines of the character described, the combination with a cylinder, a hammer piston therein, and a chuck for holding a drill steel, having a passage through the same, in position to be operated von by the hammer piston and to receive hole-cleaning fluid from the cylinder, means for distributing motive fluid to and exhausting same from said cylinder to operate said hammer piston, said means including an automatic distributing valve, means for supplying fluid to said distributing valve for shifting the same and causing operation of said hammer piston,and a manually actuatable valve device for controlling the admission of fluid to and the exhaust of'fluid from said automatic valve and having provisions when in one position to cause normal operation of said automatic valve and when in another position to cause said automatic valve to be held at the limit of its forward stroke against movement and to hold said hammer piston to the limit of its rearward stroke while passing live iiuid around said automatic valve directly into the cylinder and thence to the drill ste-el.

4. In a drilling engine, the combination with a cylinder, a hammer piston therein, a chuck for holding a drill steel having a passage through the saine in a position to be operated on by the hammer piston and to receive hole-cleansing iiuid from the cylinder, a distributing valve unit cooperating with the cylinder and comprising an inlet port, eX- haust ports and bleeding ports and a freely reciprocating valve controlling said ports and ducts between said ports and said cylinder; of a manual valve unit associated with said distributing unit and comprising a live iiuid passage, exhaust passages and bleeding passages, and a rotary valve controlling all of said passages and including means for maintaining one of said bleeding passages open at all times, means for closing ofi' the other bleeding passage at times, means for maintaining one of said exhaust passages open at all times, means for closing 0E the other of said exhaust passages at times, means for opening said inlet passage at times and closing it at other times while diverting inlet fluid and by-passing it into the cylinder at the fore end thereof for the purposes GEORGE W. SMITH. ALBERT E. DIETERICH.

g described. 

